There are many ways to learn about the bleaker aspects of human nature. One would be to run a pizza shop, or regularly to have to clean a public restroom. Perhaps giving close attention to the text of Thucydides might give a more abstract lesson. Also, the Old and New Testaments offer plenty of examples of the fallen state of man.

Obama apparently did not get the message. What is the common denominator of his failed foreign policy initiatives (reset with Russia; a new, kinder, gentler Middle East; supposed breakthroughs with China; outreach to Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela) and his domestic catastrophes (Obamacare, deficits, huge debts, chronic unemployment)? In a nutshell, he does not seem to know much about human nature, whether in the concrete or abstract sense. Obama never held a menial job or ran a business. In lieu of education in the school of hard knocks, he read the wrong, if any, seminal texts.

The problem with a thug like Vladimir Putin is not just that he does not respond to “outreach” and “reset,” but rather that he interprets such loud magnanimity as weakness. And when sermonizing and lectures are added to perceptions of American impotence, the impression of timidity leads further to contempt, and ultimately to a devilish desire to humiliate and disabuse a naïf Obama of his moral pretensions. And what of the world watching all this? Unfortunately, it is more likely to enjoy viewing a strong rebuff of utopian idealism than a weak embrace of it.

For the sellout of the Czechs and the Poles over missile defense, the unnecessary effort to enter into more strategic arms talks with the Russians, and the sermons about being a good citizen at the UN or tolerating dissent at home, in return we received Russian snubs over Eric Snowden and Putin’s obstructing U.S. efforts against Iran or Syria. Had Obama from the outset kept quiet about “reset,” avoided trashing his predecessor, and stood firm when Putin pushed, Putin would now respect him as much as he feels contempt.

In his Al Arabiya interview and Cairo speech, Obama sought to reach out to the Middle East on the unlikely premise that his own affinities with Islam (a Muslim father, a Muslim middle name, Muslim relatives), his mixed racial heritage, and his multicultural sympathies for the Islamic world would turn stand-offish moderates into friends and prior enemies into moderates.

But why so? All the silly euphemisms in the world — man-caused disasters, overseas contingency operations, workplace violence — would not make jihadists suddenly like the U.S. just because the new president was not a white, Christian Texan.

Such superficial affinities are as unlikely to promote diplomatic breakthroughs as they are likely to appear insulting. Does Obama have any experience with the particularly disturbing human characteristic — learned both from literature and the experience, say, of going to a dangerous public school — that forced efforts to fit in, to accommodate, to ingratiate, to seek affinities where they don’t exist are not interpreted as outreach as much as condescension?

The almost eerie hatred for Obama seen in Egypt — among the military, the Islamists, the Egyptian street, and even the secular pro-Western reformists — in part derives from a sense that Obama tried to cajole them all with cheap commonalities and mytho-histories rather than negotiate often conflicting national interests through tough transparent talks.

The inability to understand human nature, or to take it into account, is the left's first and fatal flaw.

Everything they do requires that individuals be subsumed within the collective. For their programs to be successful, individuals must be willing to work just as hard and produce just as much for the benefit of the collective as they would for themselves. Individuals who produce great wealth through their own efforts must be willing to have that wealth redistributed among the collective. We all must be willing to accept that government--the only thing we all belong to--is the collective expression of our combined will, our individual wills be damned.

That this is completely contrary to human nature either escapes those on the left entirely or is simply ignored. We must submit to the common good. If we can not be persuaded intellectually or emotionally to act in ways contrary to our natures, we must be compelled by penalty of law. This is the root of totalitarian government.

Our Founders in their infinite wisdom did understand human nature. It's why the Constitution treats us as individuals free to pursue our own interests and limits the government's ability to interfere in those interests. It's why the left must so often employ extra-constitutional and non-constitutional means to achieve their goals. And why they have to convince themselves that they know the better way because their superior humanity, empathy and intellect guide them rather than a piece of parchment on which a bunch of dead white guys wrote a bunch of antiquated rules characterized by a general lack of compassion for the downtrodden masses.

VDH missed an edit to his superb article. Third paragraph, first sentence, should read: In a word, he does NOT seem to know much about human nature, whether in the concrete or abstract sense.

Obama´s strength is that he uses his race as a shield from the consequences of the identical policies and massive government corruption that black, Democratic mayors and councilmen have inflicted on Detroit, Camden, Newark and other American cities. And, that Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Jesse Jackson Jr and the CBC are doing on the confressional level. There is absolutely nothing different in Obama´s policies than what Detroit´s black Democrats have imposed on the now Motorless City for 5 decades. Even though Obama´s tired leftist policies have all failed and will always fail, he escapes criticism and normal cost / benefit analysis because of his color coupled with his party affiliation.

IMAGINE a PM DANTE~ A 10th Circle in the INFERNO: Abandoned by God, despised by Satan & BHO therein condignly confined, in poena damni, to administer the "OSCULUM INFAMOSUM" to the "Father of Lies" and his appointed lackeys and minions,ad aeternum( per omnia saecula, saecularum). DEUS VULT!

Obama is an emotionally petulant adolescent who dislikes his parents and source of everything good that he has been given. As such he will never take responsibility for his own failings, hypocrisy, or personal limitations. Only 3 1/2 more years until we can throw him out of our house. Until then we must try to contain his narcissistic irresponsible hatefulness toward those who pay the bills.

Like most demoncrats, aka progressives/communists, his worldview is predicated on a series of premises that really require critical examination if not outrage in response. Conflation is not a cosmological event. And if you really want to be disgusted iat the state of our progressive civilization, take a look at the Miley Cyrus music video that I stumbled on while channel surfing the slime oozing out of the TV set. It exempliifies the 'demoralization' of the progressive agenda. When I finally lighted on Fox News which is not quite as bad as the other disinfo outlets, Colmes was spouting off about O-care and why everyone has to 'play' to make it work (cuz don't you know everyone abuses the system and needs the same '(lack of)quality of care')...at the end of the day it's just another monopoly oriented maintenance plan to subdue the masses. otherwise why the exemptions, (and wait til we see what it disallows eg. catastrophic coverage plans-isn't that what insurance is supposed to be? )We are being taxed based on our existence ( as seen with HC and the coming carbon tax) very un-American.

This article misses the point through the fundamental flaw of nearly all pieces looking into Obama - it judges him by the same calculus used in examining other presidents. In BO's case, that methodology does not apply.

We can likely agree that previous presidents wanted good things for the country and we either agreed or disagreed with their road map for reaching certain outcomes. With Obama, the outcomes described above are precisely the ones he wanted. Stagnant employment, rising food stamp usage, even the feckless foreign policy are not the result of poor advice or naivete, they are the designed outcome of a man who pledged to fundamentally transform the nation.

All the things that happened on his watch lead to one of two conclusions: he and his administration are either grossly incompetent or they are malevolent. Once you have exhausted all the possible reasons for why something has happened, you must begin looking at reasons that were previously thought impossible.

This man does not concern himself with human nature any more than Stalin, Hitler or Moa did. The press and his clones spin the assault on our freedoms to mollify the masses of any that pay scant attention to his actions. Most are mired in the trivial lives they lead. He already knows, recent scandals aside, that the weight of Obamacare will suck this last best hope of the world to it's knees. How do you combat the rampant ignorance promulgated in our education system and our apparently consensual recognition of the immorality foisted upon us daily in movies, tv shows and "news"? Must we hit bottom before there's a chance for resurrection? It's not just this politician or others, but the never ending intrusive bureaucracies they leave in their wake that must be confronted and dissolved that's the long term threat to our freedoms. I hope the pain that's coming will force the vast majority to action before we dissolve into another example of a great nation that imploded.

"he does not seem to know much about human nature"Of course not. Isn't this a common characteristic of all socialists/communists/leftists? I remember my high school history teach (this was about 1968) explaining this as the fatal flaw in Marx's theory.

"The almost eerie hatred for Obama seen in Egypt"Is because they see him for what he is: a propeller-head.

"In other words, there is nothing in Obamacare to turn natural self-interest into group interest"And yet I'm sure he gets it that the 47% voted for him so they could keep their Obamahones, Section 8 housing, etc.

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